July 26/09 11:05 am - Mont Ste Anne World Cup - Women's XC UPDATES

Welcome to our coverage of the Mont Ste Anne World Cup XC. Our coverage is sponsored by Shimano

A couple top ranked riders will not be racing. Sabine Spitz (6) Eva Lechner (7) and Petra Henzi (12) are all missing.

The day started cool (15c) and windy and 10 minutes before the start of the women's race and the skies have opened up and it is pouring rain.

Elisabeth Osl crashed in training and injured her knee. She will start but is not too sure about how it will go for her.

The organizers have added a "chicken run" for the rocky descent (see 4 on the map), and it is hoped that it will actually be longer than the actual descent. Geoff Kabush is not very happy about the section being added, but a number of riders crashed on it during training.

Former racers will be doing colour commentary for the CBC. Matt Toulouse will be doing for the French CBC and Lesely Tomlinson for English.

Lap 1

Women are doing 4 laps

Up the climb it is Katrin Leumann and Willow Koerber (Subaru-Gary Fisher) in the lead followed by Margarita Fullana Riera (Massi) and then a long line.

They have just come out of the woods (~ 2 km in) and Marie-Helene Premont (Maxxis/Rocky Mountain) has taken an 8 second lead on Fullana, followed by Kalentieva, Heather Irmiger, Elisabeth Osl (Central Ghost Pro Team, Willow Koerber. Catharine Pendrel (Luna Pro Team) is sitting 10th and Emily Batty (Trek Store) is 15th

At the far end of the course (1/2 way), Pendrel has 10 seconds on Kalentieva and Koerber. At another 5 seconds is Nash. then another 5 seconds to Premont. At another 10 seconds is Maja Wloszczowska. Fullana is 14th and having real difficulty on the technical sections. Getting off and walking a lot. Emily Batty is about to overtake her.